Study Questions

1. Why does Ella recommend Malcolm for the railroad job?

2. Why does Malcolm want the railroad job?

3. What is surprising to Malcolm when he visits Washington, DC?

4. Where does Malcolm stay on his first visit to Harlem?

5. What is Malcolm’s favorite drink?

6. Why isn’t Malcolm worried after being fired by the railroad company?

7. Whom does Malcolm visit in Kalamazoo, Michigan?

8. What is Malcolm’s first job when he moves to New York in 1942?

9. When did Harlem’s Cotton Club open?

10. Where does the “Lindy Hop” get its name?

Answers

1. Ella recommends Malcolm for the railroad job because she wants him to move out of Boston and stop dating Sophia.

2. Malcolm wants a railroad job because the job would provide him with free transportation to visit New York City’s Harlem.

3. Malcolm is surprised to find thousands of poor people living just a few blocks from Capitol Hill and the White House.

4. On his first visit to Harlem, Malcolm stays at the Harlem YMCA.

5. Malcolm’s favorite drink is a shot of bourbon.

6. Malcolm wasn’t worried after being fired because, during America’s war years, the economy was very strong.

7. Malcolm visits his mother, who is in a state hospital in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

8. Malcolm’s first job in New York City is as a day waiter in Small’s Paradise.

9. Harlem’s Cotton Club opened in 1926.

10. The Lindy Hop is named after Charles Lindburgh, an aviator who made an historic, non-stop flight from New York to Paris in 1927.